Butler University
Session 2007-070

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Transcript

Connected on 2007-11-28 09:00:00 from , , US

• 8:42 am
• Bugscope TeamHi Stephanie!
• Bugscope TeamHello Mrs H!
• Studenthello\
• Bugscope Teamand Adam
• Bugscope TeamWelcome to bugscope
• GuestHello, thank you for helping us today!
• Studenthello
• Bugscope Teamwith few bugs today
• Bugscope Teamhey all
• Bugscope Teamthis is an integrated circuit we got from one of our guys
• Bugscope TeamHi guys
• Bugscope Teamhe is an expert at hatching them out of their covers
• TeacherHello - can you handle a non bug today?
• Bugscope TeamYeah, we're ready :)
• Bugscope Teamthere are a couple of fruit flies and a ladybug on the stub as well
• Bugscope Teamso we are good
• Bugscope TeamStephanie would you like to drive?
• Bugscope Teamwe just gave you control of the 'scope
• Studentsure
• Studentokay

• Bugscope Teamjust let us know when you have any questions, and we will try to answer them

• Bugscope Teamso you should see the presets, to the right of the chat here, as well as the controls

• Bugscope TeamWe suggest hitting F11 to enter full-screen mode, it'll make a lot more lines of chatvisible
• Bugscope Teameverything in the 'scope today is mounted on a 50-mm circular stub Cate put together

• 8:47 am

• GuestI have a question, can you see the chemistry involved with the piece we are looking at?
  Bugscope TeamThat's a feature we don't have available through Bugscope, but which the microscope is capable of via an X-ray spectral detector called Electron Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). It hasn't been a priority for Bugscope because the elemental composition of bugs is pretty uniform and unrevealing

• Bugscope Teamif we used the EDS detector we would be able to tell you what elements are in the sample

• Bugscope TeamI think Chas is giving you a better answer

• Bugscope Teamwhen we do EDS we operate at 10 mm working distance, and for bugscope we use a long working distance

• Bugscope Teamwe could also use the backscattered electron detector, which gives us atomic number contrast

• GuestThat makes sense...:) that is why we deal with the non-biology aspects :)

• Bugscope Teamto operate the EDS takes time, and to make elemental maps takes still longer
• Bugscope Teamso with the backscattered electron detector (BSD) we could see differences in atomic composition but we couldn't identify the elements
• GuestCould we do that?
  Bugscope TeamThe BSD detector isn't installed today, sorry. We could send you some great electron micrographs of example cases comparing secondary electron (SE) images to BSD and EDS
• Bugscope Teamwe would have to open the chamber to set it up, and that would take a 4 or 5 minutes

• GuestWe will see what the students would like to do, so we will get back to that question. thanks
• Bugscope Teamwe would also want to work at a higher kV and a larger spot size as well as a shorter working distance

• 8:52 am
• Bugscope TeamI am sorry we did not realize you might want to do that
• Bugscope Teamit would be better to try that next time we connect with you
• Guestwhat kV are you running right now? no worries, we are just new to the process
  Bugscope TeamIf you click on the scale bar in the lower-left corner of the image it will show you the scope parameters up at the top of the image

• Bugscope Team5 kV, spot 3 (2.1 nm)
• Guestcan you run 20 kV?
• Bugscope Teamwe use a lower accelerating voltage to keep charging down
• Guestok - thanks
• Bugscope Teamwe can run as high as 30 kV

• Bugscope TeamNow we're on one of your gears
• Studenthow do i save pictures that i can access
  Bugscope TeamEvery image automatically gets saved to the database along with the chat and presets. It will all be available from your member homepage after the session
• Bugscope Teamthe higher the kV the better the resolution but the worse the contrast and the higher the probability of charging

• Bugscope Teama shorter working distance also gives you much better resolution

• Bugscope Teambut a smaller max field of view
• Bugscope Teamyour homepage is http://bugscope.itg.uiuc.edu/members/2007-070
• Bugscope TeamYay Alex!

• StudentWhat do you mean by every image?
  Bugscope TeamEvery time a change is made to the microscope the server saves a new image, so it should have an image (and associated 'scope parameters) stored for every change you make today
• 8:58 am

• Bugscope TeamThis is the gear you sent, from the digital camera
• StudentCan you please reduce the working space down to 8 mm
  Bugscope TeamDecreasing the working distance means our lowest magnification available is now higher. At the magnifications we're at currently, we're not resolution-limited so the WD change shouldn't benefit the image much

• Bugscope Teamokay 8 mm
• Bugscope Team24.9

• Bugscope Teamthe working distance is now 8 mm

• Bugscope Teamfrom 24.9
• Studentthanks

• Bugscope TeamOOF
• Bugscope Teamnow you are out of focus because we set the WD so short
• 9:03 am

• StudentCan you please hand over the controls to adam?
  Bugscope TeamDone.
• Studentthanks
• Bugscope Teamokay Adam has them
• Bugscope Teamadam now has control

• Bugscope TeamLooks like we're very out of focus. I suggest zooming out until something is recognizable and then adjusting the focus as you zoom back in
• GuestI am a guest teacher with a class of 4 looking on. What are we looking at?
  Bugscope TeamI'll be able to tell you what it is in a moment, we were just seeing a lot of blur for a moment. Now we're looking at a screw, slightly out of focus

• GuestWhat is the #8 preset a picture of?
  Bugscope TeamThese are part of the tissue connecting the haltere to the side of the fruit fly. Halteres are modified wings that bounce back and forth and act like a gyroscope for the fly, helping it to fly straight

• Bugscope Teamthis is a field emission scanning electron microscope with an assortment of samples in it
• 9:08 am
• Bugscope Teamunlike a normal bugscope session, the school we are working with today requested materials samples
• Bugscope Teamwhich they sent
• Bugscope Teambut we put some insects in as well
• TeacherThis is a plastic screw removed out of a Cannon digital camera

• Bugscope TeamNow you can see the phillips head

• Bugscope TeamYou can use the focus control to sharpen up this image

• Bugscope TeamThe surface reminds me a lot of clay in a pottery class... doesn't look as pristine as with the naked eye
• Studentyay it does

• StudentYeah, just looking at a screw it makes a sharp cross. Doesn't nearly look so scratchy

• Guestit is so amazing to see!

• 9:14 am

• Guestyou all must love your job! how can i join you? :)

• Studentreminds me of tree bark
• Bugscope Teamthis is the most fun we have during a week; we really enjoy it
• Bugscope TeamDo you mean work for us or participate in another Bugscope session?
• Guestwork for you... :)
  Bugscope TeamWe occasionally have positions open that we post to the group's homepage: http://www.itg.uiuc.edu
• Bugscope TeamNo-one is specifically assigned to work on Bugscope, we all continue to help out each week because we have a great time running sessions

• GuestWhat are we looking at now?
  Bugscope Teamthis is a fruit fly
  Bugscope TeamWe've got a fruit fly in view at the moment

• Bugscope TeamTwo answers for the price of one ;)

• Guestthanks! :)

• 9:19 am

• Bugscope TeamCate chose this fruit fly because we had a good view of the haltere.

• GuestNine of us got up early (We are on an island outside of Seattle) We are considering this as a project. What bug works the best to look at?
  Bugscope TeamWe'd love to have you on. Bugs smaller than a centimeter are usually best. They're all quite interesting. Good Packing & Shipping makes the biggest difference in how they look when they arrive at our door
  Bugscope TeamHere are some sample tips: http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/help#specimen

• Bugscope Teamsmall insects/arthropods are best

• Bugscope Teamwe can put a number of them on thestub

• Bugscope Teamearwigs are good because they often have mites on them
• Bugscope Teamhi all!
• Guestwhat is that
• Guest?**

• Bugscope Teamthis is a spiracle
• Guestwhere are we on the bug
• Bugscope Teamwhat the fruit fly breathes through

• Bugscope Teamwe are looking into the opening, and it is difficult to do this sometimes because it is hard to get the interior grounded
• Bugscope TeamThis is probably the side of the thorax or abdomen
• Guestwhat do you call those "hairs"?
  Bugscope TeamHairs are called setae. Many of them have sensory function: mechanosensory (they feel) or chemosensory (they "smell")
• Bugscope Teamthe hairs are setae
• Bugscope Teamsome of them are mechanosensory and some are chemosensory
• Bugscope Teamand some are just setae

• Bugscope Teamwhoops, Scott's scooping me
• 9:24 am
• Guestthank you, my life science knowledge is very small
• Bugscope TeamBecause the insect wears its skeleton on the outside of its body, the insect uses the setae to sense its environment. The setae connect to nerves.
• Bugscope Teamwe work with materials people, biology people, and biomaterials people in the lab.

• Bugscope Teamwith bugscope we usually have only 'bugs'

• Studenti try

• Bugscope TeamWe have sensory nerves embedded in our soft skin, but the hard exoskeleton of the insects can't feel, so the mechano-sensory setae travel through pores in the exoskeleton to stimulate nerves inside the body due to touch outside the body

• Bugscope Teamit is a little tricky to control the 'scope remotely, and Adam is doing a good job.

• Guestgo adam
• Guestwow!!!

• Bugscope TeamImagine if you were wearing a suit of armor--it would be difficult to know what exactly was going on around you
• Studentgood point
• Guestwhat power scopes are you using?
  Bugscope TeamThis is an electron microscope, so the magnification is tuned by varying the current in the electromagnet coils, meaning we can achieve just about any magnification between about 40x and 200,000x
• Bugscope TeamWe can see the setae 'flexing' a little here due to the electrostatic charge they get from being bombarded by a beam of electrons (negatively charged particles)

• Bugscope Teamsome of the small setae -- the microsetae -- have other purposes. they may add surface area to the cuticle and help with lift, for a flying insect. They also may form a pattern that other insects can recognize.
• Guestyep
• GuestThat looks like my hair under the microscope.
• GuestOh.

• 9:29 am
• Bugscope TeamThe electromagnets focus the beam of electrons very similar to how refraction from glass lenses bends optical light paths
• GuestThat is about 5 times what we see on our scope

• Bugscope Teamthis would be better at a shorter working distance, much better
• Bugscope Teammany of the mechanosensory seate are very sensitive to subtle vibrations, they can help the insect detect movement and avoid being stepped on or getting eaten by a predator
• GuestI mean 50 times

• Bugscope Teamum, setae, that is

• Bugscope TeamOptical microscopes are limited by the wavelength of light, to about 1,000x. Electrons are much smaller than the wavelength of visible light so we can go several orders of magnitude beyond light microscopes in terms of magnification
• GuestAre those hairs were looking at?

• Bugscope Teamor microsetae
• GuestWhat are setae?
  Bugscope TeamThat is what insect "hairs" care called
• Bugscope Teamsetae are what we call the tiny 'hairs'
• Bugscope Teamsetae are insect hairs
• GuestOh. That explains a lot.

• Bugscope Teambecause mammals are the only critters that are supposed to have hairs
• GuestIf the class decides to send in a sample, when could we scedule a time. Are you booket through February?
  Bugscope TeamIt doesn't look like Feb is heavily booked -- http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/schedule.php -- Once you fill out an application we get back to you about scheduling and then you can send in your samples, usually a week or two ahead of the session
• Studentcould you switch controls back to stephanie?
• Bugscope Teamdone
• Bugscope Teamok done
• Studentthank you

• Guestwhat are we looking at now?

• Bugscope Teamladybug

• Bugscope TeamGood bye all--I am off to class!!!
• 9:34 am

• TeacherBeautiful face a mother would love!!!!

• Guestgood luck and thank you annie
• GuestGoodbye.

• Bugscope Teamoh yeah great face

• GuestThat's very attractive.
• Guestwhat do ladybugs eat?

• Bugscope Teamthey eat other bugs
• Guestwhat are those on the "mouth"?
• GuestIs that still it's mouth.
• Bugscope Teamwhere we are now there is a lot of residue on the sample, sort of oily

• GuestHow hard is it for a tudent to use the controls? We have 16 students would there be time for all to use or only a few. How long is a session?
  Bugscope TeamWe often schedule sessions up to 2 hours. Though only one person can control at a time, we can switch who has control at the drop of a hat so it can be fairly efficient to give everyone a chance

• Bugscope Teamit is really easy

• Guestwe have two right now from my class, this is the first time for them and they are doing pretty well

• Bugscope Teamother people -- researchers -- use the 'scopes, so we cannot do this all of the time

• 9:39 am

• GuestWhat is that?

• Bugscope Teamwe are very close to the mouth of the ladybug

• Bugscope Teamhard to tell just where we are but there is some residue on the sample here

• Bugscope Teamthis is one of the mandibular or maxillary palps
• Bugscope Teamwas...
• Guest:)
• Bugscope Teamyou can see one of the eyes, to the left

• Guestwhy are the hairs larger at the top then the bottom
• Guestwhere?
• Bugscope Teamthe setae have different purposes

• Guesttheir heads are really buried?

• Guestin the pictures that were focused closer to the ladybug

• Bugscope Teamthey are very streamlined
• Guestwere are we now
  Bugscope TeamThe compound eye is filling the right half of the screen. You are seeing the individual facets
• Guestwhy are these yey components pentagon shaped?
  Bugscope TeamI don't know a definitive answer, but one logical explanation is that it doesn't waste any space. If they were each round there would be dead space in between each of the ommatidia (facets)
• Studentthe eyeball
• Bugscope Teamit is interesting that when we see a broken eye, sometimes, we can see that it has a crystalline structure.
• 9:44 am
• Bugscope Teamthese are ommatidia -- the individual facets of the eye

• Bugscope Teamit's when they break after death that we see into the fractures
• Guestmakes sense

• Guesthow much does this microscope cost
  Bugscope TeamThe initial installation cost was above $600,000. It also requires dedicated water, electricity, and compressed air as well as a hefty support contract

• GuestWhat is their vision like?
  Bugscope Teamthat depends on the eye. some insects will have eyes that cover most of their head. They will have almost a 360 degree view. If they are a flying insect, they need tioo have really good vision so they dont fly into things
• Bugscope Teamone thing, also, that is cool, is the tenent setae that many insects have on their tarsi

• Guestcan you explain that scott? sorry

• Bugscope Teamthey have a pad called a pulvillus that has huge numbers of setae on it, and those setae help the insect stick to the ceiling, or glass, etc.

• Guestwhat allows them to stick? a chemical?
  Bugscope TeamInsects typically secrete a sticky compound from the pulvillus. Geckos have a similar arrangement of hairs, but they're many times smaller and take advantage of a microscopic force called Van der Waals to adhere without any adhesive

• Bugscope Teamwith a gecko there are similar tiny seta but about a 10thh the thickness, and think they use van der waals to stick

• Guestoh - of course
• Bugscope Teamsome of these setae seem to be gummy, but I think they are more like tiny (there we are!) suction cups.
• Studentcan we turn the controls over to adam?
• Bugscope Teamgot it

• Bugscope Teamd'oh, Scott answered my question for me, *and* he got the spelling right

• 9:49 am

• Bugscope Teamthis is the pulvilllus

• Bugscope Teamon a ladybug tarsus

• Bugscope Teamthe tarsus is what the 'forearm' segments are called, collectively

• Bugscope Teamindividually they are tarsomeres

• Bugscope TeamLooks like a piece of dust or dirt trapped among the setae of the pulvillus here

• Studentthats crazy

• GuestIt is amazing to see nature's patterns in things this small
  Bugscope TeamThat's one of my favorite things about EM images of insects. There are tons of amazing patterns out of reach of the human eye. It's given me a much better appreciation for nature
• GuestWhy is the hair wrapped around the dust?
• Bugscope Teamanother physical, as in physics, phenomenon is the halteres in some flies
• Guestgo on...

• Bugscope Teamapparently a lot of insects started out with four wings, and two wings are more efficient for flying

• Studentadaption

• Bugscope Teamso there are different ways the insects have dealt with that'
• Bugscope Teamone is to have only two wings, but there is a potential drawback in vibration
• Guest"darwinish"

• Studentare those cracks due to the coating on the bug
• 9:54 am
• Bugscope Teamso the halteres are former wings in some Diptera that serve to balance the motion of the wings
• Bugscope Teamsort of like gyroscopes
• Bugscope TeamNow the halteres bounce back and forth against the body and act like a gyroscope. If a blast of wind comes along the halteres change course slightly with respect to the body and that deviation is sensed, then the insect reacts to it
• Bugscope Teamit is unlikely at this mag that you are seeing the coating
• Bugscope Teamwe use gold-palladium, and it is very fine

• Studentso the cracks are in the skin of the bug?

• Bugscope TeamUsually the Au-Pd coating only starts to become barely visible at about 200,000x

• Bugscope Teamthe cracks are in the cuticle, yes

• Guesthow thick is the Au-Pd coating?

• Bugscope Teamhere it is a little thick, maybe 6 or 7 nm
• Guestlittle thick? ;)

• Bugscope Teamwe make these samples bulletproof, in part because insects have so many fine features
• Guest:)
• Bugscope Teamordinarily we would want to be 4 nm, maybe

• Bugscope Teamthis is cool

• 10:00 am
• Guestgo closer
• Guestgo small or go home! ;)
• Guestwhy are the setae bent at the tip?
• Guestis that as close you can get?
• Bugscope Teamwe have you at a disadvantage today because we are back at a longer working distance and have thus sacrificed resolution
• Bugscope Teamno you can get much closer to the sample than we are now
• Guestwhat will this microscope go to
• Bugscope Teamusually when we do bugscope we don't go to super high mag, and we want the kids to see as much at low mag as possible
• Bugscope Teamwe have 2 nm resolution
• Studentscot could you focus it?
• GuestHow many watts of electricity does it take to power the microscope.
• 10:05 am
• Guestwhat does spot size of 3 mean?
• Studentthanks
• Bugscope Teamspot size of 3 is 2.1 nm at 5 kV
• Bugscope Teamprobably 3 or 4000 watts
• Bugscope Teama little less, really
• Bugscope Teamthe TEM is higher wattage
• Guestwhat is tem

• GuestThat would be quite a power bill.
• Guestif this were a living insect would you be able to see mitosis at work?

• Bugscope TeamI am sorry we are going to have to let the next people on the 'scope
• GuestTHANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Studentthank you
• Studentthank you very much
• Bugscope Teamif we wanted to see mitosis we would have to see through the sample, so not with this 'scope
• Bugscope TeamThank You!
• TeacherThanks and make it a great day!!!!!
• Bugscope Team'preciate it.
• GuestThanks for letting us watch. We will be in touch
• Guestwhat scope would you have to use
• Bugscope Teamabsolutely we will be glad to see you
• Bugscope Teama very good light mciroscope, which we have
• Guestdo we have to get off now?
• Bugscope Teamoops sp
• Bugscope Teamyeah I am sorry
• Bugscope Teamwe need to let the 10 a.m. people on
• Bugscope Teamthey have been waiting
• 10:11 am
• Bugscope TeamBye!